Electronic marketplaces enable customers to search for or browse information regarding items that are available for purchase from a variety of sources and in a variety of ways through one or more network pages or sites. For example, an electronic marketplace may offer items for sale that it owns and controls, as well as items that are owned by sellers, via one or more web pages or web sites. Electronic marketplaces typically provide information regarding such items to customers via network pages or sites that are accessible to networked computing devices of any type or form.
Over the last several decades, advancements in Internet programming and network connectivity have greatly enhanced the breadth and quality of information that an electronic marketplace may provide to customers regarding a seemingly endless variety of items, including both goods and services. Such marketplaces now provide electronic portals from which customers may review and compare information in the form of text, images, audio or video regarding such items from every corner of the globe. Once a customer has identified one or more items of interest, he or she may order the items directly from an electronic marketplace and designate the items for delivery to the customer or other intended recipient. Over time, as a customer visits an electronic marketplace to purchase more and more items, the electronic marketplace may accumulate a variety of data or attributes regarding the customer, including information regarding his or her shopping, style and sizing preferences.
Despite the breadth of their offerings and the relative ease with which vendors and manufacturers may post items for sale thereon, and customers may purchase items therefrom, electronic marketplaces are limited in their ability to describe items to customers, as electronic marketplaces are currently limited to presenting information that may be seen and heard, but not touched. Naturally, unlike bricks-and-mortar stores, electronic marketplaces are currently unable to permit customers to “try on” or “test drive” items prior to purchasing them, in order to determine which variation or model (e.g., size) of a particular item or product is a best fit for an individual customer. Instead, customers may merely view pictures or video, or read product details or comments from other customers, regarding products or variations thereof before choosing a product or a variation. At best, an item is typically depicted on a mannequin, or on models having fantastic or unrealistic sizes, shapes or dimensions (e.g., a bodybuilder, or a “size zero” model), or in a context that is typically chosen at random, to demonstrate or illustrate one or more various features of the item, or one or more uses or applications of the item. Moreover, the same image (or images) is typically shown to every customer who visits a page corresponding to that item, even though each individual customer may visit the page with different goals in mind, or from a different location. Therefore, images of items are typically displayed on a page with a sterile or non-descript background, and without any additional features or context.
The inability to try on a particular article of clothing, or to otherwise experiment with an item prior to purchasing it, places electronic marketplaces at a disadvantage to their bricks-and-mortar counterparts. Although sizes and other indicators assigned to particular variations of items are usually standardized based on words (e.g., “large,” “toddler,” “jumbo”) or numbers (e.g., shoe sizes) across a variety of brands of items, each brand may use such words or numbers in different ways. For example, a shirt that is a size “large” in a first brand may be the same size as an “extra large” shirt in a second brand and a “medium” shirt in a third brand. Moreover, an article of clothing is typically described with words describing its content (e.g., canvas, cashmere, cotton, fur, flannel or fleece), or method of manufacture (e.g., cross-stitched, stone-washed, screen-printed), or in vague or subjective terms regarding the way that the article feels (e.g., soft, smooth, rough). Unfortunately, customers are typically unable to physically evaluate a look and feel of an item that is offered for sale at an electronic marketplace, unless and until the article or the item is ordered and received.
To overcome these inefficiencies and uncertainty, many customers may choose to order multiple variations or models (e.g., sizes) of a single product from an electronic marketplace, even though they intend to keep just one of the variations, and return the other products to the electronic marketplace after they have chosen one variation that has the best look or fit. For example, where a customer is interested in purchasing a tie to be worn with a particular shirt, the customer may order each of the ties in which he or she might be interested from an online marketplace. When the ties arrive, the customer may try on each of the ties with the shirt. After selecting one of the ties based on its look, the customer may return each of the other ties to the electronic marketplace. Similarly, where a customer is interested in purchasing a particular coat, and ordinarily wears coats in size 42 “Long,”, the customer may order coats in not only size 42 “Long,” but also in sizes 42 “Regular,” 44 “Regular” or 40 “Long” from an online marketplace. When the four coats arrive, the customer may try on each of the coats in order to determine which of the coats is the best fit. After selecting one of the coats based on its fit, the customer may return each of the other three coats to the electronic marketplace. Such scenarios may create challenges for an electronic marketplace, which must deliver multiple ties or coats and then return all but one of the ties or coats to stock while only receiving payment for one tie and one coat. Such scenarios may result in a fluctuating account of available inventory at an electronic marketplace being provided to other customers, and increase the cost of doing business where the electronic marketplace offers incentives such as free shipping in order to lure customers from bricks-and-mortar stores. For example, where a customer orders three pairs of shoes and returns two, the electronic marketplace may ultimately pay the cost for shipping five pairs of shoes, but profit from a sale of just one pair.